Born during the Great Depression, Herbert was raised by his grandparents who spoke no English.  Herbert spoke four languages before he learned English at school at the age of five.  He taught his grandparents English in return for which they taught him Russian-Jewish philosophy.  “There is no man so poor that there isn’t someone more poor” was the slogan over the metal box or Pushkie into which Herbert split his weekly 5 cents allowance, starting a tradition of charity that still continues today.

     Graduating from high school on his birthday in 1944, Herbert entered the army’s ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program) to study pre-med.  In 1950 he was sent to Korea  in charge of a MASH unit’s blood bank.  During Korea he was wounded in his hands and took to typing in order to exercise them and regain his dexterity.  This typing took the form of a book…his second bestseller The Handbook of Tropical Aquarium Fishes which sold well over a million copies.

     Returning from Korea in 1952, Axelrod taught at New York University and went on for a Ph.D. in medical statistics (epidemiology).  At the same time, he started the magazine Tropical Fish Hobbyist.  This magazine, and the resulting publishing company (T.F.H. Publications), became the largest publisher of animal and pet books in the world.

     Having learned the violin at an early age, Herbert never lost his love of the instrument and soon began collecting and trading instruments, building up one of the most extensive private collections of Cremonese violins.  His crowning set is a matched quartet of inlaid Stradivari which are on permanent loan to the Smithsonian Institution.  He also has Guarnerius del Gesu’s and a quartet of Stainors.  In total he has more than 30 instruments, 29 of which are on loan to outstanding artists who would otherwise not be able to afford such prestige instruments.

     Dr. Axelrod has been a long time benefactor of the University of Guelph and has been particularly supportive of the Axelrod Institute of Ichthyology.  His Stradivarius quartet made a tour (the Strad Rock Tour) to raise money for the Institute.  In 1989, Dr. Axelrod donated a world class collection of museum-quality fossils to the University of Guelph.  This donation ranks as one of the largest gifts ever made by an individual to a Canadian university.  These fossils have been used in classroom presentations in area schools to raise awareness of a wide variety of fossil and ichthyology-related topics.